Pentax launch the Q

Well I'm just dissing the choice of sensor in terms of the price of the product.

The Pentax Q wouldn't be for me regardless of the sensor, so I'm not basing my 'dissing' on that basis anyway.

The amount of sales isn't proportional to the quality of the product either. McDonalds Big Mac and Barak Obama are proof of that!

Had this been priced at $500 instead of $800 it would have made much more sense for that sized sensor.

Anyway, I hope it does well in terms of sales.

It won't, Pentax would be very silly if they did.

To keep the K mount they'd have to retain the registration distance and they'd lose the biggest advantages of the mirrorless systems; namely size and the ability to mount a massive array of legacy lenses.

I predict a new K2 (or something similar) mount that will offer enhanced compatability for K mount lenses through an adapter (something like a modern version of the M42-K adapter, with AF for the SDM lenses and full metering, etc with others).

Yes that will annoy a lot of people in the short term, but in the long term it sets them up for the next generation K mount.

I keep saying... size is NOT the main benifit to mirrorless class cameras... COST is, they are just plain cheaper to make. After the Q, why would Pentax care about the size of it's mirrorless aps-c class system? even with the larger kmount and thicker body, you throw a 40 mm pancake lens on it and it will still be smaller than many 4/3's systems.

but if pentax takes something like the k5 sensor and the leaf shutter built in nd filter, silent af, and Edial lens ring, designs from the Q lenses, throws in h264 video codec they will have the best quality images/video of ANY 4/3's, Evil Class and many d-slrs....

I think they need to keep the k-mount and simply release a series of KV (V being suitable for video) lenses.

add those to the BEST Evil cam and nobody will care if it is a little thicker than the competition..

But you have to look to the future; Pentax will be planning to be in this for the long haul (whether they are will depend on the market's reaction) and there will come a point soon where compact sensors like the one in the Q-class will be better than APS-C is today, and APS-C will fit in a body smaller than that of the new Q camera. When that happens even the DA40 will look chunky in comparison.

Cost is also a reason but that will be shaved still further by making smaller bodies that consume fewer raw materials.

I'm quite excited by the prospect of the first Q-M42 adapter as I've just figured my Sonnar is now a 750/3.5

well a k to q adaptor would seem fun and plausable but as for evil class sizes I think the market will show that the k5 is considered TOO small by some d-slr shooters preferences so somebody is gonna have to make a chunkier evil to meet user demands eventually.. might as well be Pentax....

I was discussing the Q with someone this evening and he pointed out that the missing killer app with nearly all these compact cameras, given their typical usage, is connectivity. On a mobile phone, one click take the picture and pretty well one more click lands the picture on a website. No nearly so easy with a camera, though it should be, I think. So I hope one of the first add-ons Pentax produce for the Q is a wifi connector for the hotshoe, and a connector that will upload direct to the net and not only transfer files to a PC. Perhaps Pentax have missed a trick by not building this in from the get-go. It might produce more sales than k adapter mounts and the like.

Sure. It's called HSS.

I agree with the consensus that this is a toy for the Japanese market - camera fetishists who want a little bling! Totally ridiculous at $800-900 and under-performing with a minuscule sensor. This doesn't answer the needs of the point'n'shoot user who wants better quality, nor the hobbyists who for some reason are dis-satisfied with MFT.

It does however maintain the Hoya line in overpricing their goods to maximise margin.

Good point.

They could have included bluetooth, or whatever the protocol is these days (i'm way behind of mobiles ) so at least you could zip it across to a phone to upload it.

I guess a wifi connector to a hot shoe ( which would be a good idea fro the K-5, K-r too ) would cost 250 shekels like the GPS unit does, and then if you own both you've got a hotshoe problem

well for the cost of a k5, a person could get the whole system. Why not splurge for an eye-fi cards while they're at it?

The frigging viewfinder attachment is $250 alone.


Insane.

....but they go and shoot themsevles in the foot at the outset-
who wants a TOY lens- conjours up a plastic tatty "MY FIRST SONY" image.
Has the original meaning been lost in translation or is this an acronym/pnemonic for some technical jargon?
Neil

A google search of Holga and Lomo will reveal a large alternative-photography style using amazingly poor cameras. I once sold an old tin "Empire Made" camera for an astonishing £45 for the same type of use.

It's a style and Pentax are offering an easy way to emulate this style.

Eye-Fi cards already upload to websites and there doesn't seem
much interest in them from Pentax users.

Nikon have discontinued the FF A850 because the price was too close
to the A900 so people were buying the the A900 instead. Loads of
people could have told them that before they even made the A850,
but some people in these organizations like to pursue their
dead end ideas

Why not give free tickets to New York with every camera it worked
for Hoover..... Not!!!